Spaceflight Insider

NASA reports that the rocket stage designated to accelerate the Orion spacecraft to the Moon in 2019 has been turned over to the Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) team at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The flight stage – called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) – is being processed for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the first integrated flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — An early morning landing on the Space Shuttle Columbia ended a more than 17-day mission to deploy and retrieve two science satellites, one that studied stars and another that made thin film wafers. Pilot Kent Rominger recounted how impressive it was to see the trailing satellites at sunrise. “It was incredible having two satellites out there at the same time. In the morning when the Sun would rise, they were just tremendously bright stars, trailing along behind us.”

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The classified "Zuma" mission has been delayed, and a report from an unconfirmed source suggests that the reason for the delay could cause a premature close to most of the remainder of SpaceX's 2017 launch manifest.

Though the maiden launch of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is still, at the earliest, more than two years away, work on the large rocket's Mobile Launcher (ML) moves forward in support of the first flight of the agency's next crew-rated launch vehicle.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- SpaceX is preparing to launch the KoreaSat 5a telecommunications satellite from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch window will open at 3:34 p.m. EDT (19:34 GMT) and extend for about two hours and 24 minutes. The launch site will be KSC's historic Launch Complex 39A.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — SpaceX is getting ready to launch a South Korean communications satellite, Koreasat 5A, into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The flight will be the 16th that the Hawthorne, California-based company has performed in 2017.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Much like the tile-matching video game of the same name, what the payload could be for a suggested Nov. 10, 2017, SpaceX "mystery" launch remains a puzzle. As was reported on SpaceFlight Now, regulatory findings suggest the company could attempt a launch 11 days after the planned Oct. 30 flight of Koreasat 5A.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- NASA has tapped Spaceflight Inc. for integration and launch services for so-called "U-Class payloads." These tiny space research satellites. This contract, one with a firm-fixed-price, is for base launch services in 2018 for 24 payloads.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Hot on the heels of a Falcon 9 launch on the West Coast, SpaceX sent its 15th rocket into space in 2017. The SES-11/EchoStar-105 mission came less than 60 hours after the NewSpace company sent 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit. Liftoff occurred at 6:53 p.m. EDT (22:53 GMT) Oct. 11, 2017, from Launch Complex 39A.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- SpaceX has a Falcon 9 rocket - primed and ready to launch the SES-11 / Echostar 105 satellites this evening (Wednesday Oct. 11). SpaceX has a two-hour long launch window which is slated to open at 6:53 p.m. EDT (22:53 GMT). SpaceFlight Insider is the only space news outlet to have an actual live show from the launch site and we're currently scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT (22:30 p.m. GMT).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Less than 60 hours after a Falcon 9 rocket launched 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into space from the West Coast, on the other side of the continent SpaceX is set to send the SES-11 spacecraft into orbit for a scheduled liftoff at 6:53 p.m. EDT (22:53 GMT) Oct. 11, 2017, from Launch Complex 39A.

SpaceX has completed a static fire test on a Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket will send the Iridium-3 mission into space. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, the launch of a flight-proven Falcon 9 with the SES-11 satellite has been postponed by several days.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Though damage assessments are still underway, it would appear that facilities at both Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) escaped Hurricane Irma with minimal damage. Both were subjected to winds varying from 67–94 mph (108–151 km/h) at 54 feet (16.5 meters) above sea level to 90–116 mph (145–187 km/h) at 458 feet (139.6 meters) as the storm moved through the area on Sept. 10, 2017.